But I want to address referee Allen Chapman. He has no right being on the field. We saw him referee many Minnesota games over the years and he was always terrible. His two worst traits were his wild inconsistency and his leniency on nasty tackles (which always lead to angry players and more nasty tackles and cheapshots.) I gave him the nickname Dr Evil and on two occasions when I yelled it at him from the stands he stopped in his tracks and turned around to give me the stink eye. He is not fit for service. End of story.

Back to De Jong for a minute. I don't need to say much. The foul on Nagbe was awful. He just crushed the guys ankle. It would have been a great MMA move. Maybe De Jong should go on The Ultimate Fighter if he wants to bust ankles.

De Jong will get a multiple game suspension outta this. He shouldn't be on the Galaxy or in MLS to begin with!

Chapman should get that too. And he shouldn't be refereeing at any level.

Lets cleanse our palate with something great:
Emerson Hyndman got a goal for Fulham. His first professional goal. On his 20th birthday! The game winner! 3 minutes into 2nd half stoppage time! OH YEAH! Post-game interview from the Fulham website. [VIDEO]

What is it with American players and Fulham???

With 5 games left Fulham has bailed out their sinking ship and are now 11 points from relegation. A month ago it looked like they were doomed.

Brian Sciaretta dug up this wild post-game quote from Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic: “[Hyndman] is probably one of our most talented players. I am a little bit disappointed in myself for not finding more minutes for him this year. I believe in front of him he has a brilliant future and he is a very talented player. He is quality on the ball. I believe in the future he can be a very important player for us.”

Minnesota United did what they were supposed to do, wipe Edmonton off the field. A 0-2 win was a good feeling. And both goals scored by Ben Speas! Ben Speas! I did not expect to be typing that at any point this season. Here are the game highlights. [VIDEO]

MU goals in the 16th and 55th, the first off a pass from Kevin Venegas that was deflected right into Speas path, and the 2nd off a throw in also by Venegas in which Speas pulled off a brilliant flick of the ball over his own head and then spun past the defender on this back to create a clear path to goal for himself. Both were very good shots.

And a shutout for the MU defense. That doesn't happen often enough over the years.

Match report by Derek Van Diest of the Edmonton Journal. (To demystify one misconception in that match report: MU does not a have a large squad, they have 24 players on the roster. MLS teams typically have 28-30.)

After last weeks glory for Matt Miazga at Chelsea, this week was gloom. He started the game against Swansea but was pulled off at half time after getting beat for what turned out to be the games only goal. Ouch. Growing pains on international TV can be ugly.

dN

Brad Guzan and Aston Villa are all but dead and buried. With 5 games left they are just 1 pt dropped or 1 earned by Norwich away from relegation. They lost their 8th league game in a row and have been outscored 23-3 in those games.

dN

17 year old Christian Pulisic got another start for Dortmund and played 73 strong minutes.

No doubt about it, right now Kansas City is the best team in the league. End of story.

Columbus still winless! 2 draws and 3 losses so far. Outscored 7-3.

Salt Lake still unbeaten. Unreal.

People said Red Bulls defense was a big question mark that they didn't really address in the offseason. Results so far say its a disaster. Most goals allowed - 11.

Galaxy still haven't scored a first half goal through 5 games.

Some big favorites are struggling early: Seattle, Portland, Vancouver (Cascadia! In the West), and Columbus, New York and Toronto in the East. 6 total wins between these 6 teams in a total of 31 games played. Oof.
Who had DC scoring 4 goals in any game this season? Not me. Great job.

If Fanendo Adi is not one of your favorite MLS players you might want to call your physician cuz there might be something wrong with you.

Every Portland v LA game is more intense then the previous. Ratchet up the pressure!

Europe Big 4:
-Leicester has a 7 pt lead with 5 games to play. Next: Sun Apr 17 v West Ham.
-Bayern has a 7 pt lead with 5 games to play. Next: Sat Apr 16 v Schalke.
-Juventus has a 6 pt lead with 6 games to play. Next: Sun Apr 17 v Palermo.
-Barcelona has a 3 pt lead with 6 games to play. Next: Sun Apr 17 v Valencia.

dN

One consequence of Leicester's unlikely race for the title is serious scrutiny of how they got to this place. Financial oddities unearthed. They might be nothing.... By David Conn of the Guardian.

dN

Others are looking for comparisons to Leicester'a amazing season - there are NONE! So lets make due with a good story then: Hellas Verona winning Serie A in 84-85. By Richard Hough of the Guardian.

3 Comments:

Rich said...

I was annoyed when DeJong was signed, and everyone knew this was coming. I hope he gets a decent enough suspension, but we will see. I part wish someone would give him a taste of his own medicine, and might be the only way to keep other players safe...